Endless: Start of the journey
by Fenruer Intun
Summary: AU A world about to be destroyed by the darkness. The task of restoring the balance falls on the hands of the chosen of the keyblade and his friends.


_A dark place in the middle of nowhere. There was light but it didn't come from a lamp, the sun or some sort of source. There was only one place to stand. A seemingly endless abyss. A sword, a shield and a rod floating. Dark creatures approaching to him. The feeling of being devoured by the darkness..._

**00**

_The last day of peace_

---  
_Disney kingdom, a place where humans, animals and many living things could exist without any danger. All the survivors of the different kingdoms gathered in the little kingdom, to try to have a peaceful and normal life.  
_---

"Wake up Sora." His sleep was interrupted by a voice. He was awake but he didn't want to open his eyes yet "C´mon you can´t sleep in today. Don't you remember?" The voice said and waited but it seemed like he wasn't willing to be fully conscious. "Fine be that way. I am sure that someone else will enjoy being with..." the rest of the phrase was lost thanks to the "thud" that was heard. He had fallen from the bed in a really weird movement of continuing sleeping and trying to move. "Whatever, I´ll be downstairs."

Blue eyes finally opened looking sleepily at his surroundings. The thought of his room being higher than he remembered entered his mind and was dismissed as fast as it had arrived. After all even if he was somewhat ditzy, he could compare the softness of his bed and the roughness of the floor. "Again?" he muttered. The strange dream had repeated itself and this time he had slept through more of the dream than normally. A sigh came and he stood up, ready for another day.

---

_In its beginning, the people had trouble to adapt to the new place. Many orphans also arrived, their parents lost to the darkness. It was a chaotic state during the first years. After that, a seemingly time of peace arrived even if the darkness still lurked._

---

"Morning." Sora, the spiky haired brunette said. He was about to go down when someone, a girl with long black hair appeared from one of the rooms.

"Mmm," the girl just grunted and kept walking to another of the rooms, the bathroom it seemed. Sora just smiled and went downstairs. It was really funny how her older "sister" was not a morning person.

As he arrived to the kitchen he noticed one thing. His twin brother, and frequent alarm for waking up, Roxas was reading one of his books. How did he get such rare materials was a question that Roxas never answered. "Do we have enough food?" Sora asked prepared to make breakfast anyway. It was an unspoken rule that he had to cook every day, every time anyone was hungry. That was what he got for being an above the average chef.

"Morning to you too," his brother said in his stylish not so expressive way... in other words, as serious and boring as he could. "And don't worry about breakfast, we can eat yesterday´s leftovers." He replied without looking away from the book.

"Great," Sora sighed with relief. He was also known as a lazy bum. "So we have something important to do today?" He asked remembering a hazy conversation about that... three or four days ago. Or the day before, it was difficult to remember after such interesting dream.

"Yeah, today is the celebration of the end of the war of Traverse, remember?" he sighed and closed his book not before placing his bookmark in the page and looked to Sora, who was now taking some dishes and glasses to serve breakfast. "You do remember you have to wake them up earlier today don't you?"

"Yeah, though I can't understand why. I mean it doesn't matter if we arrive early or late anyway." He said his laid back attitude showing.

"Probably, except for the fact that Riku was appointed to do the speech of introduction... you do remember that, don't you?" Roxas said asking even if he already knew the answer.

"..." Silence, Roxas saw how Sora was slowly piecing the pieces of information. Any moment now he wo- "I think I should go," Sora said and, after placing the dishes carefully, left as fast as he could.

"He never changes," he sighed before a hint of a smile appearing on his face. He decided to eat something before Sora returned.

---

_The survivors of the other kingdoms, Traverse, Twilight, Destiny and Radiant, always held a celebration for the ones that gave their lives to protect them. Although it's the tenth celebration, it is the first that someone as important as the son of the hero of the Traverse Kingdom, would talk. It was the most interesting thing that could happen..._

_---_

As any might expect, many of the refugees had taken abandoned houses as their place of residence. However, since the number of inhabitants was slightly higher than the number of homes available some people were forced to live together. That was why Sora and Roxas lived together with their older "sister" and the reason as to how they knew the other three persons that were his little but happy family.

Those other three persons, a boy named Riku and two girls who were sisters, Kairi and Naminé Dalmasca had moved away from Sora's, house because they needed space, as the girls had said. Riku was forced to accompany them because someone had to protect them from themselves, as Roxas had said. Sora and her sister could not agree more. Regardless of reasons, Sora was given the important task of going to wake them up, an ironic fact as Sora was lazy. Why Sora was chosen and not Roxas was a mystery that only Naminé and Kairi could answer.

Sora arrived to the house after running for twenty minutes. "_The distance between the houses was something that could improve a little,"_ he thought to himself and proceeded to use his key to enter the house.

The inside was pretty plain. For a person who didn't live in the area, it would seem like a well cared abandoned house. After all, although there were two girls who wanted to paint the house, they lacked the paint to do it, a fact that the other four thanked to whatever power beyond them had give them this miracle.

A snore stopped his thoughts. Someone was in the living room and, judging by the fact that there was only one person besides himself that could sleep in a sofa, Riku was there. Riku was a year older than Sora, making him automatically more mature and more handsome, that is according to girls, the various people in town, and pretty much everyone except Sora and Roxas, thanks to his silver hair and blue eyes. His height also helped as he was slightly taller than Sora.

"Riku," he whispered. It was something that everyone would do, he rationalized. Sure his goal was to wake him up but he would try to do it in the most tranquil way possible. "Riku, wake up," This time along with the whispering was a hand that lightly shook the shoulder of the sleeping boy. And yet there was no response.

"You must be really tired, geez you should be more responsible," Sora said aware of the hypocrisy of his words but still entertained by that thought. "Well I guess I could let you sleep more but..." If someone else could see this, he or she could guess what was going to happen as Sora had positioned himself strategically behind the sofa and, "you did asked me to wake you up so, here I go!" with that said, he prepared himself to push with all his strength so he would make Riku fall.

"You better stop it before I get up," The sleepy voice of the silver haired boy was heard. Although it could have been the drowsiness, his tone sounded a little aggressive.

"_Better safe than sorry... for now." _With that thought he decided to abort the bring-Riku-down-to-wake-him-up operation and looked at his friend. "You getting up or what?"

"...Later. I don't need food, I need sleep. Badly." Riku replied, still with a drowsy voice. And with that said, not even waiting for a reply of the brunette, he slept again.

"...Okay, he either didn't slept a lot or..." Sora crossed his arms and rested his chin in one of the hands. "Nope, I can't think of anything else." He sighed and decided to try with the redheaded. After all she was the most responsible of the six. Most of the time anyway.

---

_...Or at least that was what everyone thought._

---

A sigh.

Today would be another day that they would be still alive.

It had been many years since the darkness had been halted. Those ten years were granted thanks to the sacrifice of many people. Including the former king, his father.

However the darkness hadn't stop. It wanted to consume everything. It was his role to prevent it. And for that he had two weapons.

One was the cornerstone of light, the base of the whole Disney Kingdom. It protected it from the darkness. The darkness could not enter as long as the cornerstone of light existed. It was a barrier that separated from the world but also protected them.

The other was a weapon that could eradicate darkness itself. It was a treasure that three wise men had created: his own father, Ansem the wise and Yen Sid the sorcerer. The last one had requested him to finally choose someone who would take over one of the weapons and fight the darkness back, as he had already chosen one.

Another sigh.

It was a difficult decision but it was time. The darkness had to be destroyed.

---

_The future started to take shape._

---

In the kitchen of the Strife´s residence, the house of Sora, his biological brother Roxas and his foster sister Lyll, there were two persons eating breakfast. As the "youngest" of the family was currently on his daily assignment, the two persons who were eating peacefully enjoyed the leftovers of something that was unknown.

"So..." Lyll started and didn't try to bother to continue as she knew that Roxas had an idea about what she was trying to say. After all, unlike Sora, Roxas could understand the signs that other people made without having to spell it out.

"No." He knew that she was going to ask, if they knew about _that _thing.

"I see." She was worried about Sora, Kairi and Naminé. After all they were out of the loop in this matter.

"I still wonder why he said that Sora wouldn't do. I mean he is the most qualified of us, if we only need a strong heart." Roxas replied. The king of the Disney Kingdom, Mickey Mouse, had asked three of them to meet him after the speech. He had explained that he needed the help of one of them, but he couldn't figure out whom.

"He is not mature enough. Besides I don't think he could handle the pressure, though I will admit that he has a strong heart." And that was her reply.

"Well he´s indeed a little immature and he gets nervous when in pressure but still..." Roxas said with something of a hint of guilt.

"Why?" She interrupted him before he could continue with his rambling.

"Eh?"

"Why do you want him to be chosen as well?" she asked with her "serious" voice. It wasn't like she changed her tone of voice but the sensation of comfortableness had changed to one of seriousness.

"Dunno." He said and stopped himself for an instant. After a deep breath he continued. "Maybe is because the feeling of guilt about him not knowing about this. Or because he really is the best for that." Roxas stops to think. Yes they are valid reasons but not the one he was searching for.

"Are you sure it is not because you are scared?" She asked. It was a question that anyone sensible enough would have asked.

"I suppose it could be," He replied absent-minded. "But I don't think that's it either." And so their conversation ended and the serious atmosphere changed once again to a one more relaxed.

---

_The __**Darkness **__would be defeated._

---

Two persons were walking slowly in the streets. One was the brunette boy who everyone in the little kingdom knew as the one who would bring a smile to your face, like it or not. Many were jealous of him for this… but of course in a good way, or at least in a more positive light. After all, he was one of the few that could smile even after losing virtually everything.

The other person was a blonde girl who was recognized as an artist. Perhaps because she was one of the few people that could make a decent portrait, to say the least. And she was also one of the kindest persons of the little kingdom.

If that day had been normal then Riku and a red haired girl would have been accompanying them in their walk to his house to have breakfast. However since the other two had claimed that they preferred sleep over to eat. A smart choice for everyone who had only slept the amount of four hours.

"So why are you not as tired as the other two Naminé?" Sora interrupted the beautiful silence.

"I am not that sleepy" She replied, though it sounded more like a question. Sora thought for a few seconds and gave her a glare. Yes he was a little bit out of it, that didn't mean that he couldn't recognize a lie. Seconds passed and Naminé tried to resist the glare, but at the end he won. Like always. "I fell asleep earlier than them." She admitted with a little bit of guilt. After all she had fallen asleep in the kitchen and woke up in her room so it was obvious what had happened.

"That's all? I thought it was something more important." He said in a disappointed voice. He was expecting something more interesting.

"Not everyone is as carefree as you Sora." She replied trying to defend herself.

"Well they all should be. The world would be a better place if everyone could be a little more carefree." He said smiling with a thumb up, making the girl smile too.

"By the way, you remember we are _not _going to stay the entire celebration right?" She had stressed that single word, just to make her point across.

"Yeah, I know. Still all that food gone to waste…" And with that statement said, the conversation ended as they had arrived to their destination. "Ladies first." He said while opening the door. Sure he was something of an irresponsible person but he at least knew some manners. Emphasis on some.

"Thank you," Naminé replied, she had to set an example, as she had pretty much brainwashed almost anyone she knew to be polite. "Pardon for the intrusion." Saying that Naminé entered to the house and Sora followed.

Passing the living room, and saying a quick good morning to the girl that was sitting comfortably in one of the sofa, both arrived at the kitchen where Roxas was still reading that book. Mystery about the origin of certain things aside, Sora noticed two _used _plates in the sink, and before he could even formulate the question in his head, Roxas stood up and left with a smirk.

"…Those two," he sighed and let the matter go before taking out another pair of dishes.

---

"…ke up…" The sense of being watched combined with a normal volume voice and his shoulder being touched, made Riku snap out of his rest. It had been almost three hours since the interruption with Sora, which had only been after a four hour rest, meaning that he still needed more sleep. "Riku, wake up." Of course the not-so-mysterious-and-annoying-at-the-moment person wouldn't let him continue resting.

"…Ima up…" Moaning as his rest was being interrupted once more, Riku said to stop the torture he was going through. His consciousness was slowly returning but his desire of sleep was overpowering everything else.

"C'mon you are going to be late." He opened one of his eyes to try to stop falling asleep again, and saw that Kairi, the red headed blue eyed girl whom he lived with, had combed her hair in an elegant fashion and she wore some make up. These two facts made him more conscious as he was trying to grasp the reason as to why she would such actions.

"Right… the speech," he said, finally conscious enough to avoid sleeping again. "What time is it?" he groaned to the red haired while he slowly got up.

"Twelve o'clock, so you have only one hour to be ready, so hurry up." She said from the hallway… no, the kitchen.

"I guess I am still sleepy." Riku muttered as he went to his room. He had to take a shower, dress in a suit, comb his hair and eat something in less than an hour. "Good thing I am not a girl." He said and with that said he awoke abruptly. All the drowsiness disappeared as he realized something that scared.

"_Great, I am starting to think like Sora._"

---

And as many people in the town were preparing themselves for the upcoming celebration, there was more commotion in the castle than usual. Besides the usual preparations of tables, chairs, food, etc, there was something more worrisome. The magician of the court, a duck curiously called Donald Duck, was running to reach the courtyard in search for the king. It was after all something serious and probably a matter of life and death for the magician to be breaking one of the few rules that he tried to make everyone respect.

In his hurry, he didn't notice that the captain of the knights, Goofy, was in his way and…

"Waaagh," crashed against him.

"Garsh, sorry Donald." The captain apologized. It was a known fact that Donald had a very, very, very short temperament. And that Goofy was a pretty kind dog. When one know those two things, the fact that the blameless captain apologized becomes clear.

"Do you know where the king is?" As out of character as it was for him to not be mad, he had other priorities.

"King Mickey?" The captain stood there for some seconds trying to remember if he knew or had seen the king. One minute later, with Donald about to scream from frustration, he answered. "He is in the library with Queen Minnie."

Donald ran for a little bit before stopping. "You need to come too, you big palooka."

"I thought you needed the king?" Goofy asked confused at the sudden outburst.

"Just follow me." And with that order, Donald ran to the library with Goofy behind him, wondering why Donald would need him and the king too apparently.

---

"So…"

"What?"

"Why are there only two of you? Weren't you supposed to be three?" Riku asked to Roxas. They were walking alongside Lyll and Kairi, in the main street in route to the castle. However two of them were missing.

"Naminé went to change and Sora accompanied her. They say that they would arrive when your speech started. Talking about that, what is the speech about?" He asked curious.

"Wait to hear it, is so out of character for him." Kairi interrupted while smiling,

"That bad huh?" He laughed with Riku just sighing. The kind of friendship that he had with Roxas was more of a rivalry, unlike that of Sora. "See that is why you never as Kairi for help. She will…" An arm went across his shoulder and a threatening smile appeared in the lips of the red headed girl.

"Why should he not ask for my help, I wonder?" Roxas understood that he had made a mistake that only Sora and he could do. Forget that Kairi could make their life a living hell.

"Eh? I… no… that was… Guys a little help here." He pleaded to the other two.

"You reap what you sow," Was the answer of Lyll while Riku just smirked.

"What? Wait… no… Kairi… no… wait… calm down… gaaaah"

---

The king of Disney Castle was a mouse. However his behavior was completely the contraire of what many would expect. He was brave. He represented hope for his people. He worried about them, he was fair.

He wondered what would they say when he send a teenager to do the work of an adult. Would the people condemn him, or would they understand? It was useless but he did it. It was his way to atone for condemning a life to fight.

His thoughts were interrupted by the noise of the door opening and two of his best friends appearing.

"Your majesty, your majesty." Donald was yelling more frantically than ever. The king understood that it meant bad news.

"Garsh, Donald don't you think you should calm down? This is a library and you must keep quiet." The somewhat ditzy captain reminded the magician to not be so loud, but he just ignored him.

"What's going on fellas?" The king appeared from one of the bookcases. Goofy walked to where the king was, while Donald practically flew and started to talk so fast that the king could barely understand a syllable. "Calm down, Donald and repeat it slower." He smiled and Donald took a deep breath before breaking the news.

"The cornerstone of light is malfunctioning, there is some king of thorns surrounding it and… and…" The king and the captain understood immediately. Without the cornerstone there was a chance for the darkness to come.

"I see, Donald can you and Daisy try to fix it?" Donald nodded. "Okay, take whatever you need from the storage of magic as quickly as you can. If you find Minnie tell her to help you." Not waiting for something else, Donald fled away to realize his mission. "Goofy, how many soldiers do we have?"

"Approximately five hundred sir."

"Explain the situation to them and prepare to defend the castle. Send a squad to search the streets and take every person to the castle."

"Shall we cancel the celebration?" The captain asked.

"No, it may help us. The faster they arrive here without panic the better. Besides we don't know if the darkness will really attack but it's better to be safe. Oh and do me a favor, if you see the three I told you about, send them to the hall of the cornerstone. Minnie will understand."

"A-hyuck." The captain of the knights also left the library. After a sigh, the king went to his room for that. After that the destiny of one of those three would be decided.

He just hoped he was doing the right thing.

---

When Sora and Naminé arrived to the castle, they saw that most of the people were already there and that many of the knights were protecting the entrance. This bothered Sora, though he couldn't say exactly why.

"Think the speech is already done by now?" Sora asked. They had been later than they had expected thanks to the urge that had overcome Naminé. Apparently sketching Sora in a formal attire was more important that arriving on time.

"Maybe. I doubt it considering that Kairi helped to write it though." Naminé answered. She tried to find where the others have sat down. In the process she realized that something was out of place. Most of the people were fidgeting, seemed nervous or were simply whispering. Worse yet, Roxas, Lyll and, incredibly enough, Riku were nowhere to be found. "Hey Sora, have you found them?" Silence. "Sora?" She turned to where he was, only to find that he was walking to the castle. She stood there evaluating her options, to follow Sora and possibly bring him back or to stay there and search for the others. Blaming her conscience, she chased after Sora.

---

Meanwhile, inside the castle, four teenagers dressed formally where running through the hallways to reach the audience chamber. If this were a common day, someone would stop them. However there was not a soul in the hallways or in the rooms and the usual knights that were patrolling where in the entrance. It had been a surprise for the red headed girl when the king had appeared and, after making the announcement that the speech was going to be later than expected thanks to certain difficulties, asked for them to go to their current destination. Before she could have time to ask, the other three had moved as discreetly as possible to the entrance without her noticing. A feat that border lined impossible.

Regardless of who was summoned or why, at that moment at least, Kairi had decided to follow them. When they realized this, Riku tried to convince her to return but it was futile as the girl was far more stubborn than anyone could expect. It was to be expected; after all she had many traumatic experiences about being left behind.

"But anyway, what is happening?" Kairi had a hard time in trying to keep the pace of the other three. After all she was the only one who was wearing a dress. The other girl had refused to even think about wearing one. "Why did the king wanted to talk to you?" The three just kept running, ignoring her. "Fine be that way."

About a minute or so later, the four arrived at the audience chamber. It was completely alone and it was almost normal, except for the fact that the throne had moved from its place and there was an underground entrance where the throne stood.

Not waiting for any sort of sign, the three who were summoned quickly entered while the other girl hesitated before entering. The underground room was breath-taking. It was huge and covered in thorns, which give it an eerie feeling. In its center there was a huge sphere that glowed with light but this was covered in darkness and a mouse, the queen of the kingdom, was concentrating some kind of magic on it. Some meters away, two ducks, the royal magician and his beloved, and expert on potions, were reading through many books, all of them with numbers, words and many unknown things to those that had just entered.

"Oh so you have arrived," the queen, Minnie Mouse, spoke to them. They just nodded except for Kairi who didn't understand what was happening. Before she could ask, the queen and the others walked to the thorns. Kairi followed them and saw that the queen created a white sphere in her hand. The thorns dissipated, though not completely. It seemed like a barrier was forming around them. After hesitating for some seconds she decided to follow them.

It was a long path or at least it felt like that. Both the excitement and nervousness were factors on those feelings. The thorns suddenly stopped in an almost perfect spherical shape. The origin of this strange phenomenon was a giant sized key that rested on the wall.

"So this is it huh? It doesn't seem too powerful for a weapon that can destroy darkness." Riku expressed his honest opinion while still trying to be polite. It wasn't surprising that he thought that way. After all who would believe that a giant key was a weapon in the first place?

"Indeed, however it is the only hope left." Lyll had decided to speak this time. "So all we need to do is to grab it right?"

"Yes." The queen nodded. "As much as I would want to be in here, there is a more important matter that must be resolved. Please excuse me." The two teenagers bowed to the queen while she returned through the path.

Seconds passed and Riku asked a simple question. "Where is Roxas?"

"He stopped following us some time ago. He went to help Kairi as she got stuck on one of the thorns." Lyll answered as if it was a normal situation. Of course a torn dress thanks to a giant thorn on the way to a sword-like key was not exactly common. "So who shall do it first?"

"Ladies first I heard." Riku said as fast as he could. He didn't want the responsibility even though he was capacitated for it. Being the son of a legendary hero, made everyone believe many things about him, some were not quite true or even possible.

Lyll just nodded and stepped forward to grab the key…

---

"So it is time." Far away in a tower that was covered in magic that made it invisible, an old sorcerer took notice of the events that would unfold thanks to the actions of many persons. With that, the current age had come to an end.

He stood up and looked at the window. One of the key pieces had already left from the tower. He hoped that he would arrive before tragedy struck on the kingdom.

"Let us pray for the best outcome, my friend."

---

A war had started on the inside and the outside of the palace.

Many soldiers tried to fend off the hundreds and hundreds of heartless that tried to end what they started. It was a futile action as the heartless were far more powerful than the soldiers. One by one they fell to the darkness and increased their army. Slowly but surely, the desperation of many soldiers grew stronger. Many would have run by now if it wasn't because of the king that was fighting and actually destroying the darkness.

The people were still escaping to the castle. They were being guided by the captain of the knights, Goofy, to the throne room, where they would be safe. It was a difficult task as the heartless had already entered some parts of the castle. The soldiers that acted as bodyguards for all the people were slowly defeated adding one more enemy to the others. The captain was the only one who could defeat a heartless completely and even then, it took a lot of effort.

"Run over there fellas!" Was the order of the captain while he stood waiting for the heartless. The throne room was just a few corridors away and there shouldn't be too much trouble. How wrong he was. Heartless appeared and started to get near of the people. Many ran panicked at the heartless. Others stood there hopelessly waiting for their death. And few were prepared to fight back. The captain was about to help them but the heartless surrounded him, knowing that he was a dangerous existence.

"He…HELP!" One of the citizens was about to be "killed" and after that, there was nothing to avoid the others sharing the same fate…

The sound of the wind being cut was heard. The space where the heartless had been now was occupied by a brunette boy with spiky hair and a weapon that mirrored the one that the king had. The heartless was destroyed as soon as it came into contact with the weapon.

Sora Strife, descendant of a SOLDIER and a florist had gained the right to wield the keyblade.

---

_And so the long story started. May the __light__ bless the heroes of the current time…_

_///_

_A/N: _And so it starts. Excuse the grammar mistakes of there are, i tried to bust most of them but... yeah.

About the story, it will have OCs but they wont hog the spotlight of the CC.

And i guess thats all for this chapter. Review if you like, thank you in advance.


End file.
